Systems Engineer (Senior and Principal)

Are you a Systems Engineer who loves contributing to the UK’s Defence Industry and making impactful change? We are recruiting for a number of Systems Engineering roles up to Principal level from a variety of backgrounds and skillsets, working on real engineering problems, designing and developing solutions that sit at the heart of our products. We have vacancies at both our Southampton and Basildon sites.

Our Systems Engineers span across a range of activities that help pull together all the necessary engineering and technology strands into a high-performance system. As a Systems Engineer, you will bridge the gap between the theoretically possible and the practically implementable.

Typical work you might be involved in:

• Contribute to an early concept study investigating the application of new technology on future platforms
• Engage with stakeholders to define requirements for a new system
• Design and integrate new functionality into an existing sub-system in Simulink
• Collaborate with other engineers to design and prototype a detailed model of a system to understand observed simulated performance
• Design and prototype algorithms in Matlab, taking into account limitations and constraints of the target hardware
• Investigate the cause of anomalies observed during integration or evaluation activities, using real trials data
• Activities covering all aspects of the Systems “V” diagram, including concepts, field trials and deployment
• Developing cutting edge SW to counter threats to the platform from projectiles and drones autonomously
• Mentoring and Coaching of other Engineers

Projects and areas we work in range for applications within Naval, Land and Air. Technology includes:

• Communications and Force Protection
• Countering the rapidly evolving threat of drones posed to the UK and our allies
• Working with the Prime Systems Integrator designing the future of Platform Protection Systems
• Communications and messaging systems
• Development of future seeker demonstrators and production systems
• Seeker concepting and early life development
• Electronic Warfare and Vetronics
• Sensors and effectors integration including Radars, Cyber, Electro-Optic, ESM, Jammers, Directed Energy and Ballistic
• Precision Guidance working on Seeker and tracking algorithms
• EO/IR systems

What You’ll Bring:

Proven experience as a Systems Engineer within a working environment or advanced academic research experience is a must. Ideally, you will have a science-based Honours degree or equivalent experience. We are not expecting you to have deep theoretical knowledge of radar, electro-optics or infrared systems, what we are looking for are Systems Engineers with applied engineering experience that we can build upon through training, team working and mentoring.

Domain specialisms include:

• Digital signal processing
• RF systems
• Electro-optic systems
• Computer vision image processing (e.g. segmentation, clustering)
• Multi-sensor data fusion and tracking
• Real time data simulation/generation
• Data analysis using AI or Machine Learning
• Operational Experience in Electronic Intelligence or Electronic Warfare

We are particularly interested in speaking to you if you have experience in any of the following areas:

• Problem definition
• Systems Architecture
• Synthetic Environments
• Performance Modelling
• Verification and Validation
• System of Systems

This is not an exhaustive list, and we are keen to hear from you even if you might not have experience in all the above. The most important skill is a good attitude and willingness to learn.

Security Clearance:

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV).

Why join us:

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you’re looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity.
• Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options.

For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website. Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Be part of something bigger - apply now!